NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Bulldogs'
campaign through Madison, Wisc., continues next Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday with the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship,
hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The event,
held on Lake Mendota, will cap off what has already been a
successful year for the Blue, and will hopefully conclude with
Yale's first championship since 1975.

The Bulldogs look to continue their fleet racing dominance for
much of the past year. Of the 12 fleet racing events Yale
entered in 2009-2010, seven ended as wins. Skippering in A
division at nationals will be senior Thomas Barrows. Likely
crewing for Barrows will be junior and women's captain Blair
Belling. Sophomore coed captain Joseph Morris will
skipper in B division. Senior Marla Menninger
will be Morris' primary crew. A full complement of heavy-air
crews is on-hand to properly balance the boats in the event of
stronger winds. Senior Michael Hession and freshmen Claire Dennis and
Rafael Fernandez will all be available to rotate in if Lake Mendota
serves up fresh breezes.

The coed championship will test the Bulldogs' endurance because
it directly follows three days of team racing at the ICSA/APS Team
Race National Championship. Furthermore, unlike every other
in-season college sailing event, the national championship is a
three-day affair.

Lake Mendota has already served up some surprises at the
nationals. The two-day women's semifinals were cancelled
after two days of hot, breathless calm under the Wisconsin
sun. However, the lake served up a steady five to 10 knot
breezes the following day, only to shut back off for the final day
of the women's event. The week before nationals began, 15-18
knot winds were recorded along the lake. Just exactly what
Mother Nature has in store for competitors will likely determine
who hoists the Henry A. Morss Trophy on Thursday afternoon.

The Inter-collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) hosts six
national championships each year, and the coed dinghy championship
represents the pinnacle of collegiate competition. The coed
dinghy championship is a fleet racing event with two
divisions. Each school fields a boat in both A and B
division, and their cumulative scores across the three-day event
determine the overall rankings. The road to the dinghy
national championship demands consistency throughout both
individual events and the season as a whole. In New England,
teams begin their trek to nationals by qualifying for the New
England Dinghy Championship (NEDC) through their scores from the
previous season. Two spots in the 18-boat NEDC fleet are
saved for the top two finishers at the New England Dinghy
Tournament, an event that is open to all teams in NEISA. The
top eight teams at the NEDC qualify for the ICSA Semifinals.
Yale finished second at New Englands. The semifinal
championship is a new addition to collegiate sailing, beginning two
years ago. The top 36 teams in the country, qualifying
through their respective district championships, are divided into
two 18-boat fleets. This year, the semifinal sites were in
Seattle and Charleston, S.C. From this point forward
geography does not matter—the top half of each fleet
transfers on to the national championship, regardless of where
those teams hail from. Yale was sent to the Western Semifinal
and eked out a one-point victory over St. Mary's.

The other teams that qualified for nationals are Boston College,
Brown, College of Charleston, Georgetown, Harvard, Hobart &
William Smith, Old Dominion, Roger Williams, St. Mary's, Salve
Regina, Stanford, SUNY Maritime, Tufts, U.S. Merchant Marine
Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, University of South Florida and
Vermont.

The Bulldogs are no strangers to the coed dinghy national
championship. Last year the Bulldogs finished second, 20
points behind winner St. Mary's. Barrows, Belling and
Menninger, along with Jane Macky '09, won A division while Morris,
Hession and Grace Becton '09 finished fourth in B division.
Yale finished eighth in 2008 and third in 2007.

Live video coverage of the event will be provided by sailgroove
here and a twitter page will provide
up-to-the-minute reports here.
Be sure to check yalebulldogs.com for a recap of each day's
racing.